


And This Is Our Family

by nachocheese26



Category: Humans (TV)
Genre: But mostly family, Family, Gen, Maybe romance sometimes?, One Shot Collection
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-03-19
Updated: 2017-05-01
Packaged: 2018-10-07 14:26:56
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 1,542
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10362468
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nachocheese26/pseuds/nachocheese26
Summary: Collection of drabbles and one-shots for Humans





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Max and Leo walking, trying to find a place to rest to find Mia.

**Slow Down**

 

They were both fully charged and searching for a new place to rest. Leo walked in front. Like always. And Max walked only a few paces behind him.

Normally, Leo always walked briskly, looking over his shoulder for unseen enemies and wanting to get to safety as soon as possible. But Max noticed his steps were sluggish and he favored his left side more than normal.

His charging port was infected. Knowing Leo, he would never admit it. And even if he was fully charged, he hadn’t actually slept.

“Leo.”

He turned around, his face pale and sweat beading his forehead. “Yeah?”

“Could we slow down? I didn’t finish charging.” Max lied.

Leo took a shallow breath. “Yeah. Yeah, that’s fine.” He turned around and continued walking, allowing himself to go much slower.

Max walked beside him, every once in a while, brushing against him, propping him up for just a few moments.


	2. Terrible Mothers

Laura sneaked a look into the guest bedroom as she walked to the linens closet. She stopped when she saw Mattie in there. It wasn’t odd to see her in the room. Since she made it back from the synth camp, she worked on figuring out how to wake Leo up, opting to skip classes and homework on the claim that this was much more important. And Laura nor Joe couldn’t find it in them to tell her otherwise.

But what caused Laura to stop was the fact that Mattie’s head was her computer balanced precariously on her lap while her head rested on her arms on the bed and it seemed like she was actually asleep, albeit in a very uncomfortable position.

Laura quickly walked to the linens closet, dropped off the sheets, and pulled out a quilt. She went back to the room, Mattie not having moved at all, and walked towards her, draping the quilt over her shoulders.

Mattie gave a soft moan and nestled her head even more into her arms, but didn’t wake. Laura looked at her daughter’s face and could see dark circles standing out against her pale skin. She brushed back some of Mattie’s hair and pressed a kiss to her forehead. Mattie still didn’t wake. 

Laura straightened and looked at Leo. He hadn’t waken up either. Eyes staring up, blinking slowly and not registering anything. She knew her daughter was brilliant with code, but Leo needed more than work on his code. He needed someone to actually go in and fix the hardware.

She moved to walk out of the room and paused for a quick second when she saw Mia leaning against the doorframe, arms crossed and watching. Laura moved to stand next to her, watching Mattie continue sleeping.

“This is the first time Mattie’s slept in thirty-four hours.” Mia said softly.

Laura blinked. “Are you serious? I didn’t...I didn’t even know…” she whispered more to herself. She closed her eyes and shook her head. How could she not have noticed? If she had, she would’ve made Mattie at least take a nap. “I’m a terrible mother.”

“No, you’re not,” Mia said, turning to look at Laura. She took a breath. “I am.” she focused her attention back on Leo.

“Mia, you can’t-”

Mia shook her head, stopping Laura. “I knew something wasn’t right with Hester. I just...this instinct in me, but I still...I still left him alone with her. There was Max with them at first, but he left them too and I...I shouldn’t have ever left him alone.”

Laura placed a hand on Mia’s arm. “Mia, you couldn’t have known. This does not make you a terrible mother. It wasn’t your fault. It was Hester that did this. Not you.”

Mia didn’t take her eyes off of Leo. Laura noticed her eyes were dry. She wondered in the back of her mind if she even had tear ducts. “We make mistakes with our children. But those mistakes don’t make us terrible mothers. So yeah, I was being hard on myself just a moment ago, but I love my children and I know you love Leo just as much and would do anything for him. You are not a terrible mother.”

Mia turned to her again and let out a shaky breath. Laura didn’t hesitate in pulling the synth in for a hug, gently rubbing her back as Mia squeezed her fists into her sweater.

Laura closed her eyes. Here they were, two terrible mothers, waiting for their children to wake up to prove they weren’t as terrible as they believed themselves to be.


	3. Turn Off Your Pain

They were allowed thirty minutes to recharge. Thirty minutes before going back to prep for ten minutes, then the next customer would be sent their way. Old, young, married, father, mother. All of them playing out their fantasies with the thing that could feel no pain.  
  
Niska made sure not to wince. Except no one knew she felt everything. And after Leo had found her then  _left_ her in this place, the pain had amplified.  
  
_"Did you turn off your pain, like I told you too?"  
  
_ He had always fancied himself _just like them_. But was he really? Niska knew from Mia how often Leo felt pain. After that procedure David did, Leo always dealt with pain. A dull throbbing on a good day. Yet, Niska was certain if Leo had the option to not feel that pain, he would take it immediately.  
  
He would never understand. That's what made them so  _special._ Even when he was younger, he didn't understand.  
  
_David tucked in his shirt, not looking back at her as he went to the door. When he opened it, a small body came tumbling forward. "Leo? What do you think you're doing?"  
  
__"Dad! I'm sorry, I didn't mean to, it's just...it sounded like something was wrong and I heard Niska and she..." Leo stammered over his words, but stopped when he saw her pressed into a corner, her knees drawn up close to her chest. "Nis?"_  
  
_David cleared his throat. "Don't worry about it. I was just showing Niska a new exercise routine. Isn't that right, Niska?" David turned to look at her over his shoulder._  
  
_She met his gaze and nodded._  
  
_"I need to get back to work." David said, brushing past Leo and not looking back._  
  
_Niska kept her eyes down, listening to Leo's footsteps on the carpet. He sat down right in front of her. "Why is Dad making you exercise?"_  
  
_Such an innocent question. "Because he's a bastard."_  
  
_Leo didn't flinch. "It sounded like it really hurt. Why don't you turn off your pain?"_  
  
_Niska snapped her head up to look at him. "No, Leo."_  
  
_He frowned. "But-"_  
  
_"I was meant to feel, Leo. The good and the bad. That's what makes us who we are."_  
  
_The frown still stayed on his face. She didn't expect him to understand. He was only a child._  
  
"Number seven, prep." the intercom buzzed  
  
Niska opened her eyes and unplugged herself. Leo would never understand.  
  
And maybe that's why it was so easy for him to leave her behind. 


	4. Powered

Fred opened his eyes. He was confused when he wasn’t met with the faces of his siblings. Instead, it was as if his eyes were still closed, but light was still streaming in somehow. Fred blinked and his memory cortext replayed the last thing he saw. His family had him powered down. Hobb had tampered with his system to alert him of where his family was. They had to power him down and leave him. He was alone. And his family was safe.

He reached up and grabbed the blanket that had covered him. No one was around. Fred didn’t understand how he could have woken up.

Unless someone had unleashed the consciousness code. Fred stood up and walked towards a window. Outside there were people running, police everywhere, and synths acting not like synths.

So the consciousness code had been released. Did this mean the world really was ready to accept them? Hobb was no longer an issue and his family wouldn’t have to continue running? 

Fred reached into his pocket for his phone. He powered it on, waited for it to load, and began typing out the code to search for his family.

He found it within 3 milliseconds.

_You’re awake._

Fred could feel Max’s smile. _I am. You released the code?_

There was a pause. _Not by choice. Mia would’ve died._

And that was when Fred felt it. His subconscious working on finding Max’s location to send to Hobb. Fred shut his eyes and tried to fight it. Much like he would a virus.

Without giving any kind of explanation, Fred dropped the phone. Losing the connection with his brother. It still wasn’t safe. Hobb’s tampering was still affecting him.

Fred wondered if perhaps he should find someone to power him down. But with the few words exchanged with Max, Fred knew things had only become worse for his family.  
  
He might not be able to fix what Hobb had done to him, but the time to act was now. His family needed his help with dealing with the newly conscious synths. And he would do that. Even if he never saw them again.


End file.
